Ministry Fellows

Christian Union at Yale is fortunate enough to have the blessing of four full-time Christian Union ministry staff and one intern on Yale's campus. They all come from different backgrounds, but share the same calling of serving the ministry on Yale's campus.

Clay Cromer

A South Carolina native, Clay graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2005 with a B.S. in Marine and Environmental Science. He served the next eight years as an active duty Coast Guard officer, conducting humanitarian and law enforcement missions in the Caribbean, supervising Recruit Basic Training in Cape May, NJ, and overseeing search & rescue operations at the Command Center in New Orleans, LA.

In 2013, Clay and his family followed God’s call to seminary, where he graduated with an M.Div. in Ministry Leadership from Columbia International University in 2016. While in seminary, Clay served as a pastoral intern, small group coach, and interim worship leader at his church. Clay is also commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander in the Coast Guard Reserves. On the more fun side, Clay is an avid guitar-player, golfer, and dessert-eater. He enjoys hosting cookouts, making coffee, taking long walks, and organizing almost anything. He loves to laugh and loves having unique relationships with a wide variety of people. Clay is married to his beloved bride, Callie Jo, and they have three spirited young boys

Jane Hendrickson

Jane earned a BA in Biology at Wesleyan University and then a MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. While in seminary she served in an inner-city church and worked as a live-in resource for single, teenage mothers in a transitional housing program. Most recently she's stayed home with her own young children and volunteered extensively: supporting development efforts at a local, inner-city, Christian private school; serving on a hospital ethics committee; and partnering in an effort to bring a diverse group of local pastors together in ongoing partnership to serve the city and proclaim Christ's message of transformation and hope.

Chitra Kovoor

Born and raised in India, Chitra worked in Bangalore in the corporate sector, before marrying her husband George, a pastor. In 1990, they moved to serve the church in the UK. There she raised three children, whilst supporting her husband in ministry in Derby, Birmingham and Bristol. During their time in the UK, Chitra oversaw and taught at the University of Birmingham and the Selly Oak Federation of Mission Colleges in the areas of management, leadership development and cross-cultural mission. Three years ago, in another continental manoeuvre, they found themselves in New Haven, following God's call to ministry in a church near to the Yale Campus. Over the course of her time in India, England and the US, Chitra has enjoyed working with students from a diverse range of backgrounds. She loves getting to know people and believes in helping others develop their God-given potential. Her passion is seeing people walk well in their respective roles as leaders. In her free time, Chitra enjoys playing competitive tennis, going to the gym, cooking and welcoming people into her home. The Brit in her can’t help brewing a nice pot of tea for anyone who'd care to stop for a cuppa!

Michael Racine

Growing up in Traverse City, Michigan, Michael was blessed both to know the love of God and to have one of the nation's best music programs available right in the public schools. A natural learner with a wide variety of interests, Michael's greatest ambition was always to be a saint (still very much a work in rogress!), and it comes as no surprise to those who know him that he integrates vocational ministry with work as a musician and educator.As a musician, Michael has sung and played professionally in nearly every conceivable style from Renaissance polyphony to funk. Whether he's conducting a sacred choral work, interpreting Bach partitas on his Spanish guitar, or singing a Joni Mitchell cover, music making is and always has been for him something deeply soulful, a seeking after what is pure and true.

Michael was highly involved in campus ministry as an undergraduate at Brown, leading worship, co-leading small groups, and graduating with a concentration in Religious Studies. Upon graduation, he moved to Hunan, China, where he taught English for two years at a public middle school and led a small house church. Michael later headed English teaching and curriculum development for a college scholarship program in Haiti, then taught for a year in Spain before coming to study at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He earned his M.Div. from Yale in 2015. In addition to his work with Christian Union, Michael serves as the choir director at St. John's Episcopal Church in New Haven.

Jason Entgelmeier

Freshly graduated, Jason is returning this year as our 2017-2018 intern. Born and raised in the open plains of Kansas and having moved to metropolitan northeast upon adolescence, he reckons himself the real-life equivalent of Clark Kent (though he seems to be alone in this view). A humanities major as an undergrad, he enjoys exploring the intersection between faith, intellectual history, and literature. He loves competition of all sorts, indoors and out, and looks forward to discipling students this year and seeing how God moves in their lives.